The Virginia offensive line was marginally better against its season numbers in the 27-13 win over William & Mary in Week 6, the first win of the 2023 season for the Cavaliers.
Pro Football Focus graded the pass blocking at 59.3, ahead of the season-long pass-block grade of 48.5, which ranks 122nd in the country, per PFF.
The run blocking grade for the W&M game was 56.8, compared to the 53.3 season-long grade, which ranks 108th nationally.
There are 133 teams in FBS in the grades.
Virginia gained a season-high 221 net yards on the ground, with sixth-year tailback Perris Jones going for a career-high 134 yards on just 12 carries.
That’s a plus, obviously.
In the passing game, quarterback Tony Muskett was pressured on just nine of his 35 pass dropbacks, a 25.7 percent rate.
For comparison, Muskett, in last week’s 27-24 loss at Boston College, was pressured on 21 of his 42 dropbacks, a clean 50 percent, per PFF.
So, better.
Four of the five starters still had PFF grades in the 50s, with only center Brian Stevens, the grad transfer from Dayton, putting up a bigger number – a season-high 78.9.
Stevens, for the season, has earned a 76.0 PFF grade, allowing just one sack and a total of four QB pressures on 230 pass dropbacks.
On the other end of the spectrum is Houston transfer Ugonna Nnanna, a right tackle and right guard who has been on the field for 364 snaps, the fourth-most on the O line unit, but has a season grade of 38.6.
Nnanna has allowed eight sacks and a total of 18 QB pressures on 207 pass snaps, and is second on the unit in penalties with five.
The leader there: Ty Furnish, a center and right guard, who has a season PFF grade of 46.4, who leads the O line with six penalties, and has allowed a sack and a total of 13 pressures on 193 pass snaps.
Furnish only got on the field for seven snaps, all at right guard, in the win over W&M on Saturday.
Inside the numbers with Tony Muskett: Muskett, in his third career start at Virginia, was 17-of-26 for 232 yards, two TDs, one INT, a 158.0 college passer rating, and a 103.4 NFL passer rating.
You could cynically point out that the FCS transfer put up those numbers against an FCS team, but then you’d get nasty emails like I do several times a day.
(So do it. They can kiss you a–.)
Two of Muskett’s completions were basically handoffs to Malik Washington, who took the pop passes for 24 years.
The bulk of Muskett’s completions were passes that traveled nine or fewer yards downfield – he was 11-of-13 for 82 yards, with two drops, on those passes.
Attacking downfield, Muskett was 3-of-5 for 55 yards, with the one INT, on passes of 10-19 yards, and 3-of-6 for 95 yards and two TDs on passes of 20-plus yards.
Fifteen of his 26 targets were to Washington (7-of-9, 112 yards, 1 TD) and Malachi Fields (4-of-6, 63 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT).
Run game comes alive: Accounting for sack yardage, the UVA running attack accounted for 263 yards on the ground in Saturday’s win.
The bulk of the damage came up the A gap – with 126 yards on 15 carries over and on either side of center.
Runs around the left and right ends accounted for 68 yards on 10 totes.
Muskett gained 25 yards on four scrambles, not quite evening out the 42 yards lost on sacks, but, it’s worth noting.
Defense: The box score didn’t credit Virginia with a sack, but PFF did, crediting Chico Bennett Jr. with a sack on what otherwise was scored as a 1-yard loss by W&M QB Darius Wilson on a scramble.
Probably should have been a sack.
The front recorded a season-high 18 QB pressures, so that’s a plus.
That it was able to get those numbers is more encouraging when you consider that Wilson wasn’t holding on to the ball all that long.
According to PFF, only two of 18 pass attempts traveled 10 or more yards through the air.
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Chris Graham
